Careful With The Young! 

By Dr. Mushtaq Rather 

In the current day and age, stress is continuously mounting on the younger generation to perform exceedingly well and live upto the expectations of their parents, relatives, teachers, peers. The mantra of either perform or perish is seriously casting a shadow on the wellbeing of the younger generation. In this cut throat competition, the only alternative for the younger generation is to emerge victorious , no matter how far his/her health, be it their physical or mental health domain is stretched. How can we justify our unjustified and undesirable expectations from the younger generation? We have rendered younger generation vulnerable and susceptible to self harming incidents like suicides and drug abuse ruining their career and life. 

We need to pause and seriously ponder over it. We are pushing our younger generation towards materialistic values and are least bothered about inculcating philanthropic attitude among them and the result is in front of all of us. Our societal norms and regulations are in shambles. Who will take a stand and rectify it , when the cornerstone of every upbringing relies on acquiring materialistic goals? 

Additionally, the younger generation prefers to lead a sedentary life and seems to be least concerned about participating in outdoor  activities. In this technologically driven era where children are most of the time found glued to the screens of their digital gadgets , the motivation and access to sports grounds for varied sports activities is diminishing with each passing day . This will even further exacerbate due to the disruptive incorporation of Artificial Intelligence (IA) in the technological landscape. This has catastrophic consequences on their overall wellbeing: be it their physical, mental or psycho-social well being. 

Rigidity and undesired expectations from parents

There is no wrong on the part of the parent to dream that their children excel in their careers. However in deciding the career progression of their child, as parents it is rather obligatory to entertain and accommodate the insights of their wards while laying out career options for them. However, the ground reality is disappointing. Parents don’t take their children onboard in exploring diverse career options. As career sensitive parents, we need to be empathetic and compassionate towards our children and provide them a degree of breathing space instead of   dictating  terms to the younger lot. The dictatorial approach has caused more harm than good and has seriously altered the mental stability leading to mental chaos , stress and trauma. 

Recently a young boy from Mattan area of south Kashmir who was on rolls in a coaching institute at Kota Rajasthan died by suicide.  The reason behind this self inflicting harm is believed to be lack of congenial family atmosphere where the child was unable to express himself and was left with no choice but to take his life. Had there been any space for expressing divergent views and choices , his life and the lives of other innumerable children like him could have been saved. 

As parents we need to keep two things in mind while deciding the career path for our children: is the child interested in pursuing  that career and does the child have the inherent potential to  execute the career option decided for him/her?

Mental health Issues of adolescents

Adolescence is the period of profound transformation. It marks the transition from childhood to adulthood and is laden with challenges –including those related to the perception of one’s body and body image issues. Society’s expectations regarding the ‘ideal’ behaviour and body types can significantly affect physical and mental health. The weight of academic expectations, peer pressure and concerns about the future also takes a toll on mental health at this stage of life. Adolescents in India are particularly vulnerable to mental health problems like anxiety disorders and depression. Official reports have cited that among Indians aged between 13-17 years, the prevalence of severe mental illness is 7.3% and the situation is even more alarming in our UT of Jammu and Kashmir.

Social media and Moral-ruptcy among younger generation

Virtual communication through social networking sites has no doubt ensured the user to go beyond the geographical boundaries in establishing virtual societies, but in the reality it has led to social isolation as the people mostly the younger generation are glued to their electronic gadgets in chatting and texting with their virtual friends and pay little heed to establish bonds in the real life. As a result the real social sphere of people is shrinking with each passing day. In the bygone era when there was no social media and internet , the younger generation used to contribute constructively in participating varied community services on a voluntary basis, where they used to interact with the young and the old to imbibe lifelong skills and foster the social milieu. In the current circumstances of socialization via virtual platforms the neighborly bond which people enjoyed during yesteryears is waning with each passing day. Moreover,  the autonomy and the independence enjoyed by the younger generation in operating social media platforms has given them the absolute right without checks and balances in accessing the content as per their taste and choice. The unfiltered and filthy content too has crept deep into the younger generation as they are unable to differentiate between the right content and the filthy content. This has seriously dented morality as our society is at the brink of collapse in terms of   moral values.

Conclusion

The younger generation has a central role in realization of vision driven vibrant futuristic society. There must be calibrated efforts on the part of every concerned stakeholder to find amicable and viable solutions to the issues encountered by the younger generation. Rather than  adopting the dictatorial and unidirectional approach, we need to come to the level of the younger generation to mitigate their sufferings. The lava accumulating in the younger generation if left unattended without giving any vent to express will erupt with serious ramifications.

Views expressed are the author’s own and do not necessarily represent the editorial stance of Kashmir Observer. 

• The author is an educator 

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